Rose's Point of View
"Rose please don't say anything!" Victoria pleaded as we headed out of the locker rooms and into the crowded gym.
Over the past few days we'd been spending a lot of time together, and now that it was the first day of the new semester, she would finally have to face Sasha.
In a shocking turn of events, Dimitri had remained relatively calm about all this, which in truth was kind of putting me on edge. If you asked me, he was too calm and I kind of wondered what he was up to.
"I'm not making any promises Vika."
The guy was a total douche for taking advantage of her the way he did. Sleeping around with a teenage girl and then dropping her like a ton a bricks the second her brother shows up; so not cool.
Victoria had been adamant that she didn't want anyone to say anything. She thought crying about it would make it seem weak and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Of course that didn't mean I couldn't fuck with the guy, and trust me, I fully intended to. Even Victoria didn't know what was about to go down…
When we walked into the gym, I saw Sasha getting the group ready for warm up stretches.
"Belikov, you're late." He announced, barely sparing her a glass.
What an ass.
"Actually she's not late until I say she's late." I told him with a devilish smirk on my face.
Now normally I was completely opposed to using my father's influence for evil, but drastic times call for drastic measures. I made a few calls, he pulled a few strings and Voila!
"I'm not sure I follow you Lady Mazur…" he said cautiously.
Ugh. I hate when people use my formal title.
"Lady Mazur was my mother. You can call me Rose." I stated plainly with the same disinterest with which he addressed Victoria before.
"And to answer your question, as of this morning this is now my combat class."
"Rose that was awesome!" Victoria squealed as we were leaving the gym for the day.
To say Sasha didn't take my announcement very well was an understatement and after a couple of well-placed words I managed to back him into a corner. I told him I would relinquish control of my new class if he could beat me in a sparring match, and he accepted like the overly confident fool he was.
I suppose I could understand his position. I mean he was a highly trained Dhamphir and I was nothing more than a Royal Moroi. What could he possibly have to fear from me? But like Dimitri always says, only a fool would underestimate Rose Mazur, and Sasha didn't disappoint.
"Rose, may I have a word?" Sasha asked, leaning casually against the outside of the gym doors. I had a feeling he'd have something to say about all this.
"Go ahead Victoria; I'll catch up with you later." She gave Sasha a wistful look before taking off in the direction of the novice dorms. The moment she was out of hearing range he was in my face.
"What the hell was that today?" He growled.
Obviously the guy's a sore loser.
"I'm sorry; I don't know what you mean?" I asked feigning innocence. I knew how annoying that would be.
"Cut the crap Rose. You humiliated in front of my students today!"
It was true; I had seriously made an ass of out him. The fight had been over almost as quickly as it had started and all the kids in the class were cackling with laughter after their big bad instructor got his ass handed to him by a girl.
"I'm sorry if you feel that way Guardian Zorin." I shrugged easily, completely unaffected by the venomous tone in his voice. I had already kicked his ass once today; I had no qualms about doing it again.
"Listen Bitch, I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. This is my school, and I'm not about to let some stuck up Royal waltz in here and make a fool out of me."
Oh this guy was so lucky Dimitri wasn't around to hear that.
"Trust me Sasha; you don't need my help to look like a fool." I smirked.
"Maybe next time you'll think twice about sleeping with one of your students, especially one that's in good favor with Abe Mazur. You know how vindictive us stuck up Royals can be…" I trailed off, letting my words sink in.
His eyes widened at the sound of my father's name but his anger seemed to win out over surprise and his angry mask slammed back into place.
"You think this is over little girl?" He sneered. If he had fire powers I would have been in flames already.
"Oh I'm just getting started with you." I told him smugly."
"Have a nice day Guardian Zorin."
I smiled a sickly sweet smile before heading on my way.
No one messes with Rose Mazur, and they certainly don't mess with the people I love.
Dimitri's Point of View
"You should have seen it Dimka, she had him staked in under 2 minutes."
Ever since Victoria had walked in the door, she couldn't stop gushing about what Rose had done in gym today. I smiled broadly at the thought of Rose making an ass out of that man. Not many people knew just how lethal Rose could be and I wasn't the least bit surprised he'd underestimated her.
"You could learn a lot from her Victoria."
"Yeah no kidding! Who knew a Moroi could be so bad ass. I mean Zorin is a legend around her, and now he's nothing but a joke!"
She looked so pleased about it all that I made a mental note to give Rose a special thank you later for making my little sister so happy.
"Yeah well it's easy when you have a God for a mentor." Rose piped up from the doorway. She was leaning against the frame, looking every bit as smug as I would expect after what she'd just done.
"I heard you had an interesting morning." I told her, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
"It was nothing." She downplayed it, going to set her gym bag on the floor.
"But I could definitely use a shower. Care to join me Comrade?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Eww Gross Rose, I'm still standing right here!" Victoria cried, visibly cringing at Rose's suggestion.
"I'm sorry Milaya, but Ivan and I have somewhere to be." I lied smoothly. "But maybe you can work up another sweat while I'm gone and I can join you later." I winked and Rose laughed at how uncomfortable our exchange was making Victoria.
"I'd much rather work up a sweat with you…" She murmured against my lips, temporarily making me forget I had somewhere I needed to be.
"YOU GUYS!" Victoria shouted, covering her not so innocent ears.
"Alright alright!" Rose laughed. "See you later Lover." She winked, tossing her towel over her shoulder as she closed the bathroom door.
Damn that woman was sexy.
20 minutes later I was in Head Master Moskalev's office, meticulously poring over Frankie's personnel file.
"What exactly are you expecting to find?" Ivan asked, looking bored as he shuffled through the papers on the head masters desk.
"I don't really know Ivan. I just have this feeling. Something's off about all of this."
"You sound paranoid dude. She's a five year old kid."
I didn't know how to explain my thoughts to anyone else; sometimes I had trouble explaining them to myself. But the more time Roza and I spent around Frankie, the stronger that feeling got. I pulled out the first paper in the file and started reading.
Name: Francesca J. Durov
Age: 5
Birthday: January 1, 2009
Huh. That's weird. She never mentioned her birthday and that was the first day Roza met her.
Father: Deceased (Unlisted)
Mother: Deceased (Unlisted)
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington. United States.
Huh. That's awfully close to Spokane…
"This is weird." I thought out loud.
"What's weird?" Ivan asked, abandoning the rubber band ball he was busy making.
"Frankie's parents are unlisted and it says she was born in Seattle Washington."
"How did she end up in Russia then?" Ivan asked, coming to stand over my shoulder to look at her file.
Maybe I wasn't so crazy after all.
"That's what I'd like to know."
Element: To be determined.
Known Relatives: None
Notes: Francesca is a very special little girl who has exhibited signs of early elemental mastery. She shows promise in all five of the elements, including spirit and has trouble controlling her temper. When she gets worked up, she loses control over her abilities and can be very unpredictable. It was recommended that she be placed on medication to help regulate her mood swings, but after careful observation it appears she is immune to the medication. More tests will be confirmed at a later date.
I flipped the page over to find there was nothing else about Frankie on the other side of the paper, and after returning to the thin folder I found nothing else.
"Is that it? That's all they have on her?" Ivan asked, holding up the empty folder and shaking it out.
"I don't understand any of this. How does a little girl, born in the United States, with no known living family end up living at an academy in the most remote part of Russia? And what's the deal with her mastering all of the elements? Have you ever heard of anything like that?"
"Nope." Ivan announced, popping his P.
Clearly he's been spending too much time with Rose.
Just then Head Master Moskalev entered the room.
"Ah Guardian Belikov, did you find what you were looking for?"
Not even close.
"Not exactly Head Master. I was looking over Frankie's file, but there isn't much in here. Do you have anything you could add to this?" I asked, holding up the suspiciously thin folder.
"Ahh yes, Miss Durov has always been something of a mystery to us."
"How did she end up here?" I asked when it seemed he was willing to at least try to answer my questions.
"Francesca came to us when she was about 3. Now normally we don't accept children so young, as it is not academy policy. But she came with quite the sad story and in exchange for taking her in we were offered a sizable donation."
"What was the story?" Ivan asked, taking a seat beside me.
"I'm afraid I don't have much to offer. We were only told that the girl's family was attacked by a group of Strigoi near Seattle and that both her parents had been killed in the attack. She was brought here by an Aunt or something, but after dropping her off she was never heard from again."
"I don't suppose you know this mystery Aunt's name?" I asked hopefully. Perhaps if I could get even a name I might be able to track down just where exactly in Seattle she came from.
"Let me think, it started with a J…. Maybe Janet… or Janie…oh that's right it was Janine." He stated proudly.
"Her name was Janine Hathaway."